March 1, 1994Academic Emergency Medicine
Variations in the Electrocardiograms of Young Adults: Are Revised Criteria for Thrombolysis Needed?
Why the study?
What is the frequency of normal ECG variants mimicking ischemia in young adults without known heart disease?
Population
414 young adults aged 18 to 35 without known heart disease (127 black, 175 Hispanic, 112 Caucasian)
Design
Cross-sectional, Physicians reading tracings were blinded to patient history…
Authors
Discussion
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Implication
Caution advised applying thrombolytic ECG criteria in young adults without heart disease; leaves open questions on racial variants and prospective validation.
Structured PICO
What is the frequency of normal ECG variants mimicking ischemia in young adults without known heart disease?
P
Population
414 young adults aged 18 to 35 without known heart disease (127 black, 175 Hispanic, 112 Caucasian)
I
Intervention
12-lead electrocardiogram evaluation
O
Outcome
Frequency of 'normal' ECG variants (early repolarization) and frequency of ECG criteria for thrombolytic usesurrogate
A significant proportion of young adults without heart disease have ECG variants that meet criteria for thrombolysis, highlighting the risk of misdiagnosing acute ischemia in this population.
Cite This Study
Hollander et al. (1994) studied this question.